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LAPD responds to Controller Mejia’s report on arrest data
Los Angeles Jul 28, 2023
LAPD Chief Michel Moore speaks at a press conference to announce the release of the department's 2022 homicide report. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Police Department/YouTube
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Following City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s report indicating the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Black and Hispanic/Latino people at a “disproportionate rate” between 2019 to 2022, the police department issued a statement Friday saying it will respond after reviewing the report.
LAPD officials confirmed the department is “aware” of the report regarding its arrest data throughout the city. Officials emphasized the department remains committed to working with community stakeholders, victim advocacy organization and its law enforcement partners to “ensure the safety of all Angelenos through the use of Constitutional Policing.”
Mejia’s office published a map and analysis Wednesday of nearly 300,000 arrests by the LAPD in the past four years. The data came from the department and “marks the first time the data has been made accessible and mapped for the public without limitations,” the report says.
Specifically, the report says that an average of 78.26% of all LAPD arrests between 2019 to 2022 involved Hispanics/Latinos or Blacks, despite such residents making up 56% of the city’s population. Hispanics/Latinos made up 51% of the arrests, with Black people next at 27% and whites 16%. Hispanics/Latinos make up 48% of the population, compared to Black people at 8% and whites at 29%.
The full report can be found at controller.lacity.gov/landings/arrests. The map can be viewed at arrests.lacontroller.io.
Among the report’s points, for almost every year surveyed, City Councilman Kevin de León’s 14th District — which includes Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, downtown L.A., El Sereno and Northeast L.A. — led all other districts for the total number of arrests. In 2021, Council District 14 came in second to Council District 8 by a difference of only three arrests.
In 2019, before the pandemic, LAPD made 55,954 arrests for misdemeanors and infractions compared to 33,663 arrests for felonies. From 2020-22, misdemeanor and infraction arrests continued to outpace felony arrests, according to the report.
The map also shows that the LAPD makes more than 400 arrests each year in the “dependent” category, which involves children who are taken into custody because a parent or guardian was accused of abuse, neglect or endangerment.
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